Jorge Lorenzo will return to MotoGP this weekend, coming out of retirement for a wildcard appearance at the fifth virtual race of the coronavirus shutdown on what would have been the weekend he was set to appear in real life at the Catalan Grand Prix.
Sunday should have marked Lorenzo’s first competitive outing on a Yamaha since 2016, with his surprise deal to rejoin the team as a test rider having been expanded to include a wildcard start at Barcelona.
But the pandemic halting real-world racing and MotoGP ruling that there will be no wildcards when the 2020 championship does begin mean Lorenzo’s return to the grid is on hold.
Instead, he’ll line up for 10 virtual laps of Silverstone as he makes his debut in the esports series alongside a host of other names from the MotoGP grid.
He’ll be joined by proven virtual race winner Pecco Bagnaia, fellow Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo, Suzuki’s Joan Mir, Taka Nakagami as the sole Honda representative, test riders Michele Pirro and Lorenzo Savadori from Ducati and Aprilia respective, and Avintia Ducati’s Tito Rabat.
The depleted field has some notable absences, with championship leader Alex Marquez and brother Marc, previous race winner Maverick Vinales and last-time podium finisher Valentino Rossi among the names missing from the line-up.
The MotoGP riders will be joined by Moto2 and Moto3 for the second time, with 10 riders from each class having six-lap races of their own.
Action gets underway on Sunday 31 May at 1400 UK time and will be streamed on MotoGP’s YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts.
